Our case management and housing programs use Apricot to record client/household level information as well as service deliverables. We use the information to generate reports to show program utilization to funders, the board, staff and donors.

We use Apricot by Social Solutions in our organization to assist us in Case Management services. We use it to primarily track our case management data to provide comprehensive and useful reports to organizations that provide us with contracts in order to justify our existence and provide them with in depth data analysis.

Very well suited for Case Management services. Easy to train new users on how to use it as it has a very simplistic user interface. There are many ways to customize reports and provide in depth analysis.

Apricot is used across the entire organization. All of our sites use Apricot to enter important information about the clients we serve. Apricot serves as a place where we can track and store client information as well as create reports to track how we are doing in specific areas.

Apricot allows you to customize staff access based on their roles within the organization. Not all staff have to have the same unlimited access to Apricot!

Apricot allows you to create some pretty detailed reports that pull from the data you enter in the system. There is a lot of flexibility on what you can report on and how you can report on it. We use reporting features DAILY and also use it to help support us with local and state requirements.

While the ability to create reports is great, often times users have to know very specific information on building a report that may not be explicitly stated in the instructions. Sometimes one or two wrong steps in report or form building can greatly impact the accuracy of what you pull.

It would be great to have more help where Apricot staff are actually able to implement some of the changes you need made instead of just providing instruction on how to do them. Some things are pretty simple to change or create on our own, while others are more complex and require someone to be dedicated to knowing the ins and outs of the program.

Currently, we are using Apricot for Victim Services in three departments: Crisis Dept., Counseling, and Shelter Services. We will be launching its use in our Legal Dept. shortly. We must track every service interaction on 1600+ clients per year (i.e.: hotline calls for assistance, counseling sessions, and services provided in our shelter and legal departments) as well as demographic data. We have over 30 grants from Federal, State, and local sources which require data reports. Data collection was previously done on paper by staff and entered into spreadsheets by other staffer(s). Not only are we able to tabulate data for grant reports more quickly, we are able to analyze new service data that we never could aggregate before due to the intensive time that it would take. We can make corrections in data more quickly. Plus our data is more accurate because the direct service staff are entering their data directly in the data base and not on paper where handwriting and interpretations produce errors. Lastly, we are being required to increase the number of data elements collected each year due to funder demands and we are better equiped to keep up with these increasing requirements for outcomes data.

I was not aware that there would be additional charges for the updates to AVS for changes in HMIS or other federal reporting.

This probably can be done but I haven't asked yet and it's a little on the picky side but staff are asking for this: when you see a list of entries, the default is to the oldest record and not the most recent. You can easily click to reverse that but it would be nice if the list of records defaulted to the most recent first.

We were working with a program evaluation consultant who is very familiar with the field of victims services and her understanding of AVS was that you couldn't create your own forms. I informed her that was not the case. We will need to create our own data fields in order to track client outcomes over time. Outcome measures need to be very customizable to a specific provider and their services.

Our agency uses Apricot primarily to manage participant data for an employee support program for women, and for our girls' summer camps. Apricot manages all of our participant enrollment data, classroom attendance and other program data, as well as exit surveys to better understand program impact. Reports are used to help populate our Results Based Accountability score card, to help understand program impact and changes needed internally, and for other external reporting needs.

Visual format could be improved - for example, the title at the top of the screen, whether you are working with a participant or a report, does not stay on the screen as you scroll down.

I always say that Apricot is not intuitive, but it is user friendly. On the data entry side it can be a bit clunky at first entering data. Not sure the exact solution, but I know it takes some time for staff to get used to.

When filtering information on the front end by search fields, it would be nice to easily export this data into an excel sheet, as you can with reports on the back end.

Currently Apricot does not accept payment, so our agency is not able to use the software to enroll campers into our program.

Web based forms continue to be clunky, with danger of not providing an anonymous window for external inputters if the administrator who sets up the web-based form is not savvy, or overly familiar with Apricot.

We are using Apricot to measure the impact we are having on the youth that we work with.

Currently, we use Apricot as: 1) a data entry system for our case managers to enter data on needs assessments, case notes, etc.2) as a tool for counselors to reflect on their work vis a vis dashboards, reports, etc.3) a performance management tool for our program managers and 4) a data warehouse to track our longitudinal impact on the youth we work with over time.

The tool is used by our case managers and the management team. In terms of volume or programs, (50%) of our programs use Apricot in some capacity.

Customization of report graphics to match the branding of the organization/company that uses the platform (i.e. I can't easily customize the report graphics in Apricot to match the branding of EBAYC. I have to export the data and make the graphics I want in other software)

Apricot by Social Solutions is a really user friendly CRM; works well, very few glitches, great UI It works well for our purposes. I can't think of a scenario where it's "less appropriate". It's pretty flexible as long as you have a data manager who is familiar with how CRMs work. However, if you don't, then you may have trouble maximizing the potential of the software to meet your organization/company's needs.

My organization uses Apricot to store demographic information and assessment results for our participants. As our programs are mostly grant-based, we use the Apricot to pull reports to provide data to our funders. We also use it to compile information to share with staff on how to improve services as as a measure of performance.

The Help Center usually gets back to me within a day or two, which is very much appreciated. The system is generally user-friendly for both data entry and report building. Form creation can be tedious and it would be nice to have an option to duplicate/repeat a section or full report in the case that only minute changes need to be made in that respect.

We use Apricot as a client database and a volunteer engagement database. We use it to record and report all client-focused services and events as well as outcomes and impacts. We use the webforms tool for clients or volunteers to apply to the agency as well. This was one of the key factors in our decision to use Apricot.

Reports could be more customizable. I love that they can be exported to Excel, but I'd like to see more options regarding the display of the data.

One problem keeps coming up with Apricot nearly every time they make an update. They usually fix it quickly, but there's no warning when it happens and it seems they should beta test a little more thoroughly for that specific problem since it is so consistent.

It might be getting to be time to update the look and feel of the product. This isn't vital, but if you're looking for potential growth areas, you might consider this.

Apricot is an excellent client or volunteer management database. I think it could be used for nearly any database where the user knows what the user wants and can explain it clearly. Apricot is flexible to be designed throughout by the agency. The initial support we received in designing our forms was invaluable.

The database is consistently glitching and having technical problems. One specific incident that had a major impact was glitches in the system after a new roll-out in July, which did not allow our agency to enter our data or run reports because the system was not available or working. When contacting Social Solutions, they did not have an ETA for the systems to be fixed and it took 3 days for the system to be up and running again. As a result, we missed a grant deadline because staff could not put in the data and I could not extract the data. When our account manager about this, all he said was 'Oh you missed a grant deadline because of the roll-out difficulties? That is a bummer.' No other communication regarding this issue and the impact that this had on our agency moving forward.

Apricot has an 'Ideas' forum in which you can suggest ideas for the database and ways to improve. The most top-rated and promoted idea was the ability to print blank forms because this can still not be done in Apricot and since the database consistently glitches, being able to print forms is a necessity. This was initially suggested in November 2015 and still is not possible. Last month, someone again posted on this specific issue on the forum asking if this is even still being considered since it has been almost two years and nothing has come of it. So Apricot may tell you that they are open to hearing your ideas and ways to improve, but that does not mean that anything will come to fruition.

You cannot track surveys anonymously in the database. As a result, we have had to go elsewhere to track our surveys across all our departments.

The system cannot run technical or detailed reports. Almost always I have to run a report on the back-end and export it to Excel where I can manipulate and analyze the data because the system does not have the capabilities.

I need to often open up support cases because the database is not running, running slowly, not running a report correctly, or has another defect. I have had to create almost a dozen support cases because of defects in the past couple of months.

Glitches and defects are common which leads to data entry error, unhappy staff, and additional stress to the administrative team because we need the data quality to keep our funding. Additionally, the defects limit us to run reports of the data which creates a whole other set of problems.

Apricot is used for data collection, organization, storage and reporting. I customize it for our program. Apricot allows us to enter and update student information on one website. We use Apricot to track student progress for the duration of their time in our program. This data will inform our work during the year and help us assess the program’s impact on student success in college. Our peer mentors at four college campuses use the program to collect data. Their supervisors and other program staff review the data in reports.

Apricot is great if there a dedicated staff member to customize it continually. It is also useful for the collection of many data points. It may not be well suited for data collection by on-the-go users. The plugin for attendance and other types of date-centric data collection is cumbersome.

Apricot is used by the Family Services Department within a large school district. Its primary function is as a database for tracking case mgmt. with families/students. In this function it also allows us access to review specific employees' compliance with specific expectations. It also allows us to track long term services to families/students. We additionally use it as a database to track longitudinal information of students who meet the definition of homeless. We track data and run reports to assist with grant management.

The reports allow us to provide an overall "picture" of students experiencing homelessness in our district. It allows us to track data long term. The reports make gathering data for grant writing/review easier.

Reports also allow us to see overall picture of services provided to a particular student/family. They also allow us to run reports that show us overall services provided by particular staff.

I like the ability to change forms and reports to better tailor to specific needs.

There are limitations in the Form set up. We previously used FileMaker as the database for tracking homeless students. There are areas where FileMaker was much more user friendly for entering data and to see data on specific students much easier - a lot less going in and out of Tier 2 Forms. That being said - FileMaker reports were more limited - so it's been a trade off.

Setting up Reports can often be confusing - having to go into the Admin section to change Filters that you appear to change in the user view yet won't "take" without going in to Admin section (sorry - difficult to explain in writing).

The interface or lack of between multiple Tier 2 forms - especially when it comes to running reports.

Apricot has been well suited as a database to input case management notes, it seems to work very well. It is a good format to allow an overall picture of services to students/families. It allows for different forms to be added to allow for all case management tools and notes to be in the same "file" for a client. The reports have made it much easier to track output and I appreciate the ability to have reports in chart formats. For just specific, direct data entry - Apricot is more challenging and often complicated. As a robust case management system it seems to work well.

Apricot by Social Solutions Scorecard Summary

About Apricot by Social Solutions

Apricot by Social Solutions is a cloud-based solution for nonprofits of all sizes. The vendor says it brings strong, reliable data to the forefront in order to bolster a nonprofit organization’s impact. Additionally, the vendor says organizations that use Apricot save time and resources because they have a powerful tool that makes managing data more efficient than ever. As a result, they increase their time spent delivering mission.

Apricot is responsive and offers configurable forms and fields so organizations can customize their Apricot experience to their clients and mission. It allows nonprofit organizations to track what matters and follow clients throughout their entire lifecycle in a single, unduplicated record.

With Apricot, nonprofits can ensure data integrity through functionality that tracks whether the data in the system is complete, entered correctly, and unduplicated. With simple drag-and-drop functionality and outcomes management capabilities, Apricot helps nonprofit organizations transform more lives for the better.

Apricot users get real-time access to their data to facilitate collaboration and quick insights into program performance. Those insights can then be shared by creating streamlined reports within the system to present to organization stakeholders, board members, and funders. The vendor’s value proposition is that Apricot is a comprehensive solution that meets a nonprofit’s needs because it was made with them in mind!